Sonic Mania Has Been Delayed

One of the most highly anticipated games that was originally supposed to be due out this spring was Sega and PagodaWest Games' Sonic Mania. Well, unfortunately for Sonic fans the world around, the game has been delayed.

Polygon is reporting that Sega revealed during an SXSW panel in Austin, Texas that Sonic Mania for PC, PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch has been delayed into the summer. Previous to Sega confirming this news, other reports had circulated indicating that Sonic Mania had been delayed specifically for the Nintendo Switch and that it would not be releasing simultaneously with the other systems.

To help people gulp down the news a bit easier than throwing it out there raw, Sega also showcased the new remastered edition of Flying Battery Zone from Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It was the second stage in the standalone version of Sonic & Knuckles, and it was introduced halfway through the game when you locked on Sonic 3 to the game.

The video was posted to give gamers just under a minute's worth of footage of the remastered stage that's currently being added to the line-up of remastered and new levels featured in Sonic Mania. The gameplay video for the stage can be viewed below, as showcased on the Sonic The Hedgehog YouTube channel.

As you may have noticed, the music has been updated to reflect the HD nature of the systems it's launching on. The entire soundtrack for Sonic Mania has seen an overhaul with slight modifications to suit today's sound processing hardware. They've, thankfully, managed to keep it sounding just like the original Sega Genesis outings, but updated with more samples and higher quality output so that it matches the updated visual effects and sprites.

Speaking of visuals, you'll notice that there are additional background objects, sprites and tiles added to the Flying Battery Zone that weren't present in the original outing on the Genesis.

The developers have shown a great passion for recreating and remastering the old maps from the classic 16-bit Sonic The Hedgehog games, and a lot of fans can't wait to play the game.

Rumors had originally ran rampant that the game would be delayed specifically on the Nintendo Switch and incur what some people are calling a "Switch Tax", which is a higher price on the product due to some claiming that cartridges are more expensive to produce than discs, however Sega plans on keeping the price and release dates the same, according to a report from Nintendo Life.

Sega actually has two games featuring the blue hedgehog due out this year, first is Sonic Mania this summer, and then they plan on following that up with the newly unveiled Sonic Forces during the holiday season for home consoles and PC.